


Girl Genius

by blynninja



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Female Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, Gen, Introspection, Multi, Other, basically everyone makes an appearance - Freeform, but mostly about pidge, slight AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-01
Updated: 2017-04-01
Packaged: 2018-10-13 11:35:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,111
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10512960
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blynninja/pseuds/blynninja
Summary: I wrote this thing on Tumblr forever ago about how I wanted "Girl Pidge" stuff in fanfic and started writing it back in August. Starting with Pidge's growing up and leading up to when she finds her family.





	

**Author's Note:**

> This doesn’t quite fit with canon (dang you season two and language weirdness) but I started it months ago so bleh. AU.
> 
> http://b-lynninja.tumblr.com/post/147625209305/give-me-tiny-girl-katiepidgemore-give-me

Pidge Gunderson—or rather, Katie Holt—was a genius.

She had known this since her first day of preschool, when she had rattled off words even her teacher hadn’t known.

She had listened to her father in his workshop and on phone calls so often that as a toddler she knew plenty of science and space terms, and it had simultaneously terrified and impressed her preschool teacher.

Her mother had homeschooled her until she was six and they had determined her approximate grade level—at least two above her peers. She had been enrolled as a third grader at the age of seven and had at least not been completely bored. She hadn’t exactly been challenged, either, but her parents had been wary of bumping her up too many grade levels. They had done that with her brother Matt and he had struggled and ended up moving back down a year—though still a year above his age group.

And so Katie had been the smallest and the youngest in her class, and the teasing had been inevitable, in part due to her size and intellect, and in part because of her choice of hobbies: robots and coding, mostly.

Some days she’d go find Matt at lunch and share stories of rude classmates. Other days she’d come home crying to their mother that her classmates thought her hobbies weren’t “girly” enough, that girls couldn’t be astronauts or build robots.

Always the advice was the same: “You can do anything you want. Go and be great.”

And so Katie had ignored the hurtful comments and had continued learning and working on projects with Dad and Matt.

By her 6th grade year and Matt’s 8th, they were winning science fairs both as a team and individually, creating things that had their father, a Garrison Commander, impressed.

By the time Matt was able to drive, he had nearly completed his senior year of high school, and Katie was at the end of her sophomore year.

Matt and their father had been chosen to go on the Garrison’s exploratory mission to Kerberos, one of Pluto’s moons, and Katie was so proud of both of them.

She was also a little jealous, and had told Matt as much. He’d only laughed and assured her that she’d be on even cooler missions someday.

They had gone on their mission just days later, and within months had been declared dead, allegedly due to pilot error.

But Katie knew that wasn’t true. Dad and Matt had met their pilot, had been so confident in his abilities. There hadn’t been an error, and Katie had been determined to prove it.

Once, twice, three times she had succeeded in hacking into the Garrison’s records, searching desperately for answers. And in a desperate, crazy move, she had assumed the identity of “Pidge Gunderson,” a Garrison freshman.

The workload was relatively easy to manage, considering she’d already learned most of it. That meant completing assignments went quickly, which gave her more time for research.

It had been a little tedious and repetitive for a while, until the night Hunk and Lance had followed her to the roof and this Voltron adventure had begun.

Now she was piloting a giant green robot lion and working on learning alien languages, which came more quickly for her than for the others. While Hunk was still learning what was what in the kitchen, having Coran decipher various Altean words, Pidge was stringing together sentences in Altean and phrases in Galran.

Lance, bilingual advantage aside, was jealous, she knew. He struggled with most Altean words and usually stuck to English, other than when he was really frustrated, at which point he would usually mumble in Spanish.

Keith, while having learned a little Korean growing up, wasn’t exactly fluent, and Altean wasn’t exactly the easiest language to learn, either. Keith seemed content with learning basic survival phrases and nothing more.

And then there was Shiro, who was practically fluent in Japanese thanks to his mother. As the team captain, he seemed to want very badly to learn Altean and other alien dialects, but they didn’t come nearly as quickly to him as they did for Pidge. Many times she had found him staring at maps, trying to flip between Altean lettering and English in an attempt to memorize at least the planets and systems.

Allura and Coran had assured them that it wasn’t entirely necessary to learn other dialects, as the castle-ship and their helmets compensated for some of the language translation, but Shiro wanted them all to try. Pidge knew that he was frustrated with the others’ slow pace and that everyone was slightly jealous of her, but Shiro was glad that at least one of the Paladins had a handle on language.

Pidge’s technical genius, on the other hand, was matched pretty much only by Hunk’s, and she was glad to have a teammate with whom she could share some of her projects and jargon.

The others had been through training at the Garrison, of course, but any time she and Hunk started up a super-technical conversation, Lance got a far-away look in his eyes, Keith just kind of stared at them, and Shiro never hid his amusement.

Allura and Coran seemed impressed with their quick adjustment to the Lions and Altean tech, though Allura attributed some of it to their studious nature and their connections with their Lions.

Pidge had gotten used to being “one of the guys” by the time she’d revealed her secret, but it was nice to have it off her chest, anyway.

It had taken her a while to work up the courage to tell the team, and she’d vented to Shiro about it not long before spilling the secret, but eventually she had decided that they deserved to know the truth, regardless of if and how it would alter team dynamics.

Shiro had assured her that he would stand with her in either decision, and Pidge had appreciated that.

The team’s reactions had been somewhat surprising (except for Lance’s), but nothing had changed at her reveal. She was still a part of the team, although the others had been skeptical of continuing to call her “one of the boys” until she had assured them that it was not an issue.

Shiro had let “Katie” slip at some point and _that_ had taken a little explaining and debating over what to call her, but the boys usually stuck with “Pidge” since they were used to it by then, and Coran still referred to them all as numbers, so it wasn’t that big of a deal.

Pidge insisted that they call her whatever they were comfortable with, and she’d answer to either “Katie” or “Pidge,” as technically now they were the same person.

And that (genius) person had just found her father and brother.

The readout on the screen seemed impossible, but Pidge had quadruple-checked it to be sure, and they were just one system away from the camp her father and brother were currently in.

Pidge blinked, forcing away tears, as Shiro stepped up behind her, curious.

“Pidge? What did—”

Her leader paused, reading the display for himself, and his hands went to her shoulders as she turned to look at him.

“It’s them, Shiro,” she breathed, whispering because to say it too loudly might make it lose meaning, or something. Her brain wasn’t quite making connections right now.

“Your family,” Shiro replied, louder than her whisper, his eyes wide.

“What?!” Hunk yelped, nearly colliding with Lance as they both rushed over to examine the readout. 

“We’re so close,” Pidge managed to say, glancing between Yellow and Blue and Black, searching their faces. 

“Well, we gotta go get them!” Lance declared, throwing an arm out and nearly smacking Hunk in the face. 

Hunk barely noticed, his own face lighting up as he agreed, “Yeah, come on, Shiro, tell Allura!” 

When Shiro failed to move right away, Lance smashed the intercom button and announced, “Everybody to the bridge! Pidge has good news!” 

Allura swept in regally a few moments later, Coran trailing behind her with a spring in his step. Keith brought up the rear, though it was clear he’d run from wherever he’d been—Pidge vaguely remembered him saying something about training. 

“What’s going on?” the Red Paladin asked, blinking as Lance bounced over to him, giddy. 

When Pidge didn’t open her mouth within a second of Keith’s question, Lance and Hunk explained simultaneously, “Pidge found her family!” 

Lance pointed enthusiastically to the readout, which the others observed quietly for a moment before Allura smiled and Coran clapped Pidge on the shoulder. 

“We can go find them, right?” Pidge asked quietly, looking up at Allura cautiously. “Since we’re so close, I mean, and we don’t exactly have pressing Voltron business right now and—” 

“Pidge,” Allura interrupted gently, setting a hand on her shoulder, “of course we can go get them. They’re your _family_.” 

Pidge blinked for a moment, and then threw her arms around Allura’s middle and nearly cried into her fancy dress. 

X 

A day later they’re raiding the camp, blasting Galra soldiers and sentries and slicing through doors, all regard for stealth on hold. 

They have prisoners, including family, to free, and Shiro is just as inclined as Pidge to do it as quickly as possible. 

If that means forgoing the quiet sneaky way they usually do things, then so be it. 

They find a number of prisoners holed up in corners of cells, and Pidge is glad they’d scanned the camp and brought along one of the larger pods that could hold a number of the prisoners. 

They can each take a few people in their Lions, as well, and Pidge had gone back and forth with Shiro over the pros and cons of her father and Matt coming along in Green, or him taking them in Black. 

In the end, they end up with her in Green, since she was closest to their cell and they were in a hurry to get out of the camp and off this particular moon. 

She doesn’t say much during the flight back to the castle, and Dad and Matt seem too stunned at being liberated to ask any questions right away, gazing at Green’s cockpit in awe. 

The boys are waiting for them when they return Green to her hangar, Lance bouncing excitedly and Hunk nearly crying as Keith smiles and Shiro looks on with an expression Pidge can’t quite read. 

She pulls her helmet off and turns to her family, expecting what she isn’t certain. 

Certainly not the emotions that overtake her, tears streaming unchecked down her face as Dad and Matt rush to hug her, murmuring joy and pride in her ears. 

Her father’s words ring in her head: _“Just you wait, kiddo. Something tells me you’re going to have your own crew someday. You’re going to fly with them to worlds so far away, we can’t even imagine. I bet my bottom dollar you’re going to be part of something that makes the whole universe sit up and take notice.”_

“Your hair!” Matt laughs, running a hand through her shorter cut, and Pidge chuckls through the tears, gripping his fingers tightly. 

“You’re a pilot!” her father whispers, almost incredulous, and Pidge squeezes his arm, nodding. 

“You’re alive, and you’re piloting a giant robot!” Matt laughs. 

“You could have—” her father starts, but Shiro interrupts quietly, “But we didn’t.” 

“Shiro!” Sam cries, more tears gathering in his eyes, and suddenly Pidge is flooded with the team’s emotions and Hunk joins the group hug, bawling on her shoulder. 

Sam reaches for Shiro, beckoning him closer, and Shiro steps into the hug relatively willingly, smiling. 

Not wanting to be left out, Lance tucks himself in close to Hunk and Pidge, ruffling her hair as he moves. 

Coran and Allura eventually join the hug as well, urged on by Hunk and Lance and earning themselves a smile from Sam, who beckons them closer. The mice tag along, nuzzling as many faces as possible. 

Keith is the only one left, and evidently he doesn’t like being left out of the hug, for as much as Pidge thought he hated them. He joins the group after Hunk tugs on his arm, insistent. 

They’re a giant mass of Paladins, aliens, and family, and Pidge latches on to this feeling of completeness, of wholeness, of knowing exactly where she fits. 

She is a Paladin, a daughter, a sister, a nerd, “vertically challenged” as he father likes to say, and the only female Earthling in the circle, and she wouldn’t trade her place in it for anything.

**Author's Note:**

> My dad and now our district manager at work both call me "vertically challenged" so I had to throw that in here.
> 
> Also woohoo 50th fic on AO3.


End file.
